As I mentioned in the previous post I will be trying to know more about the animation industry. Since my interest is in 2D, I base most of my discussions on the 2D animation industry.
After a recommendation from my friend Ark, I tried out intermediate frames for the half month I was there: the producer gave me the character settings and keyframe animation, and I did the final step before the animation was coloured in adding intermediate frames and clearing lines. It wasn’t an official full-time job, but it was my first real job in the animation industry. Thanks to Ark!
We had a clean line workshop where Isobel, an animator with 6 years of experience in the industry, explained the basics of the 2D animation industry to us.
Through the work and clean-up workshop, I found out that the job is not as easy as I thought it would be. It tests the animator’s drawing skills and requires close attention to volume and proportion, which seems easy, but it’s actually very difficult.
I showed my tutors my animation showreel which consists of assignments I made in terms 1 and 2, but unfortunately, they said it would be difficult to get a job with this kind of student-level basic animation practice and that I needed to have more professional showreel. I was anxious for a while about this, as I was about to enter my final year of postgraduate studies and would have to start looking for a job. But I quickly adjusted my mind.
So, over the next year, I will continue to improve my portfolio. I will also continue to improve my skills and understand the animation industry by understanding the requirements of an animator.